The present invention relates to a splice block for splicing insulation on electrical conductors, producing electric connections among the conductors, and securing the conductors to the splice container.
Insulation displacement connection (IDC) is a technique employing a connector that engages the insulation surrounding an electrical conductor in order to secure the position conductor against unwanted movement and to produce an electric connection. Conductor strain relief restrains the conductor in the IDC and holds the conductor in place to prevent its movement relative to the IDC interface and potential damage to the interface. It also improves conductor pull force performance by cutting into the insulation when the conductor is pulled vertically or longitudinally.
A splice block is a device for splicing through insulation covering various electric conductors, electrically interconnecting the conductors by engaging connectors in the block with current carrying conductors, and providing electric continuity among the conductors. Preferably the spice block also secures each conductor to the connectors and reliably maintains engagement of the conductors to the connectors despite the presence of high ambient temperature in the working environment.
Conventional conductor connectors in the prior art usually include strain relief and position definition features integrated into a mating part. These features often are in the form of bumps on a plastic connector cover, housing or another part of the connector, which bumps are used to form and IDC interface by pushing the conductor into the IDC. Such connectors rely on tolerances between the mating parts and positive mechanical locks to secure the parts mutually. Reliance on dimensional tolerances and mechanical locking permits variability in the position of the conductor relative to the IDC interface and affects the quality of the IDC interfaces.
The magnitude of the contact force varies in conventional IDCs with the diameter of the conductor and insulation. Furthermore, there is no provision in conventional IDCs for outside pressure on the conductor in two perpendicular directions, which would ensure sufficient contact force to accommodate variation in the size of the conductor. By adjusting the offset of the adjacent slots this contact force can be adjusted. A larger offset is be used for smaller conductor sizes; a smaller offset is used for larger conductor sizes. The magnitude of the contact force between the connector and conductor is preferably adjustable by changing the magnitude of the offset between adjacent slots of the connector.
It is preferred that a connector rely on mechanical engagement with the conductor insulation to provide repeatable positioning of the conductor relative to the connector and to prevent displacement of the conductor relative to the connector, especially displacement resulting from conductor pulling forces, which is an important requirement of the performance of the IDC.
Splice blocks in the prior art employ are a bus bar integrated into the connector. But this technique increases cost and requires an additional connector on the connector harness. Conventional splice blocks do not provide integration of discrete circuit protection devices (PTCs), such as resetable fuses.